Waste Control Specialists continues to advocate for legislation it hopes will pave the way for interim storage of U.S. nuclear waste, with CEO Rod Baltzer stating in a blog post this week, “Let’s just do it.”
Last week, Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) introduced legislation that would allow the Department of Energy to contract with private nuclear waste storage companies such as WCS and Holtec International, which are proposing interim spent fuel storage facilities in West Texas and New Mexico, respectively. Mulvaney’s legislation is similar to a bill Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) introduced last summer, though Conaway’s bill is more direct in allowing DOE to spend on storage about $1 billion in annual interest from the $34 billion Nuclear Waste Fund. The Republican-led House Energy and Commerce Committee’s stance has been that it will not consider any bill that does not address the need for a permanent nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Still, Baltzer said he regarded Mulvaney’s bill as a sign of encouragement, now that there is legislation coming from a state that wants the waste, Texas, and from one that will need to ship it, South Carolina. Mulvaney’s district will soon have five nuclear reactors, more than any other congressional district. The facilities are Oconee 1, 2, and 3 near Greenville; Robinson 2 near Florence; and Summer near Columbia.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, and panel Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), have said they would introduce similar legislation in the upper chamber.
“This second bill signals the increasing attention and support for making interim storage a reality,” Baltzer wrote this week. “It is exciting to see movement in the House and we hope they catch up soon to the level of support for interim storage that already exists on the Senate side.”
